Correlation and Sequence Stratigraphy of the Claiborne Group in the Tri-State Area of Western Tennessee, Eastern Arkansas, and Northern Mississippi

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Correlation and Sequence Stratigraphy of the
Claiborne Group in the Tri-State Area of Western
Tennessee, Eastern Arkansas, and Northern
Mississippi

• Angela Owen and Dan Larsen
• University of Memphis
• Memphis, Tennessee

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Claiborne Group

• Mainly middle Eocene strata overlying Wilcox
  Group and underlying Jackson(?) Group.
• Tennessee Stratigraphy defined by Roberts (1927),
  Wells (1933), Stearns and Armstrong (1955),
  Cushing, Boswell and Hosman (1964), Moore (1965),
  Moore and Brown (1969), Parks and Carmichael
  (1988, 1990), Van Arsdale and TenBrink (2000).
• Memphis Sand, Cook Mountain Fm., and Cockfield
  Fm.
• Mostly non-marine siliciclastic strata with few
  shelly fossils and common organic debris and
  lignite.
• Mississippi equivalent strata include as many as
  seven formations that possibly correlate to the
  Memphis Sand and retain the Cook Mountain and
  Cockfield Fms.

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Stratigraphic Problems

• Stratigraphic nomenclature changes at MS-TN state
  line How do marine Claiborne strata in
  Mississippi correlate to mainly non-marine units
  in SW Tennessee and eastern Arkansas?
• Several faults and complex fault structures have
  been defined by previous workers in the Shelby
  County, Tennessee area Can detailed
  stratigraphic studies assist in determining if
  all of these structures exist and, if such faults
  exist, their relative offsets?
• Correcting for fault offsets, can the Claiborne
  stratigraphy in northern Mississippi and
  southwestern Tennessee be interpreted in terms of
  sequence stratigraphic principles?

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Methods

• Examine Claiborne Group strata in outcrop and
  borehole core throughout study area.
• Collect high-quality well logs from throughout
  area
• U.S.G.S.
• North American Coal Co.
• Miss. Dept. of Environmental Quality
• Ground Water Institute
• Prepare detailed stratigraphic cross-sections,
  such that borehole spacing is generally less than
  5 miles apart.

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Discussion and Conclusions

• Many of the Claiborne Group units defined in
  Mississippi can be correlated to the Memphis Sand
  in Tennessee.
• Several faults displace strata in the study area,
  several have been identified by previous workers.
• Regional stratigraphic units can be interpreted
  int terms of sequence stratigraphic unitsfurther
  work is needed to correlate to global eustatic
  events.

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Acknowledgements

• Many thanks to Brian Waldron (GWI), David
  Thompson (MDEQ), Richard Martin (UM) and Steve
  Ingram (Ole Miss) for access to logs and/or
  samples, and assistance with log interpretation
  and correlation.
• Support for this work was provided by the Ground
  Water Institute, Univ. of Memphis.